the schools were, at his command, suppressed. Under these discouragements, the missionaries, after distributing ten thousand copies of the Bible, returned to Europe. The empire of Abyssinia has been frequently disturbed by civil wars; and the appointment of a new abuna, or metropolitan, is often attended by intestine commotions. This was the case in 1715, when that dignitary, in a convocation of the clergy, declared his opinion of the consubstantiality of Christ, which was different from that which had been proclaimed at the gate of the palace. The abuna represented Christ as being "one God, of the Father alone, with a body consubstantial with ours, and by that union becoming the Messiah." The emperor maintained, on the contrary, that the Redeemer was perfect man and perfect God by the union; one Christ, whose body was composed of a precious substance, called _bahery_, not derived from his mother, or consubstantial with ours. Many of the ecclesiastics favoured the opinion of the abuna; and, elate with their supposed triumph, they gathered the populace, surrounded the palace, and insulted the emperor with shouts and songs. The enraged potentate gave immediate orders for their dispersion and punishment. The mandate was executed by a company of pagan soldiers, who slew about one hundred of the delinquents, and filled the streets of the capital with slaughter. The Christian population of Shoa and Efat is estimated at 1,000,000 souls, and that of the Pagan and Mohammedan population of the numerous dependencies at an equal number. But this people is chiefly interesting to us from the fact that here, for so many ages, a national religious establishment has existed, which never succumbed to the authority of Rome, and, consequently, which has ever been in the observation of the holy Sabbath day. The Ethiopic church maintains the Eutychian doctrine respecting the nature of Christ; and it agrees with the other Eastern churches in holding the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father only. In these respects it differs from the Western churches. From the Romish church it is distinguished by its doctrine regarding the supremacy of the Pope, in which it agrees with Protestants; to the rule of faith, which it limits to the Scriptures, including the Apocrypha; to the eucharist, which it administers in both kinds to the laity, and regards neither as a transubstantiation nor as a sacrifice; to the celibacy of the clergy, who may be married; to the adoration of images, which it regards as unlawful; to the state of the soul after death, rejecting purgatory; and as regards several other less important and minor points. But, like Rome, it invokes saints and angels as intercessors with God, paying great honours to the Virgin and St. Michael, and having a copious calendar of saints, with a corresponding number of fasts and festivals.[9]